Kindness of Strangers

My wallet fell out of my car last Friday afternoon and I didn’t even know it happened. I made the mistake of putting my wallet in the side pocket of my door and in the chaos that comes with parenting two kids, I never even saw it fall out. And it wasn’t until several hours later that I realized what had happened. So, hours after it went missing, I started calling my bank, credit cards, etc. to cancel my cards. Even though it was a pain to have to go through that, I was relieved to find out none of them had been used!

So, was my wallet still sitting in a street somewhere? Or did someone find it, look for cash (they would have been disappointed, I think I had two dollars) and then toss the wallet? Or, was it possible it was found by a kind stranger and would be returned to me by a good, honest citizen of Evanston?

I’m happy to report that Friday evening there was a package sitting on my front steps with my wallet inside. With my wallet was a handwritten note on lovely stationary with a cross on the front. It was written by a woman named Nancy and she wrote, “Dear Emily, I am so thankful I found your wallet. It was laying in the street on the corner of Reese and Hartzell in Evanston. May God Bless You.”

I don’t know who Nancy is, but she did leave her address on the package. I was so relieved and grateful to have benefited from the good deed of a complete stranger. When have you experienced the kindness of a stranger?

By the way, I’m going to send Nancy a thank-you note….and I think enclose a copy of our newest issue of Gather. 🙂

Emily Hansen is the director for stewardship and development for Women of the ELCA.